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The Debian Project http://www.debian.org/
Debian Archive Signing Key to be changed press@debian.org
Mai 23rd, 2009 http://www.debian.org/News/2009/20090523
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Debian Archive Signing Key to be changed
The Debian Project wishes to announce the change of the GNU Privacy
Guard key used to digitaly sign its archive reference files. Signatures
are used to ensure that packages installed by users are the very same
originally distributed by Debian, and have not been exchanged or
tempered with.
Affected distributions are the Debian unstable branch (codenamed "Sid")
as well as the testing branch (codenamed "Squeeze"). The current stable
version Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 (codenamed "Lenny") and the current
oldstable version Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 (codenamed "Etch") will have
their ftpmaster signature updated too. The release managers signature
stays untouched.
The currently used key will expire soon. The new key has already been
distributed via the debian-archive-keyring package. For users of the
current stable release Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 (codenamed "Lenny") no
action is required from the user side, since Debian GNU/Linux 5.0
(codenamed "Lenny") was already shipped with the new key. Users of the
current oldstable release Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 (codenames "Etch") should
ensure to have upgraded to the lates point release 4.0r8 which added an
upgraded package containing the new key. Users of Debian's testing
branch (codenamed "Squeeze") and Debian's unstable branch (codenamed
"Sid") should ensure to have at least version 2009.01.31 of the
debian-archive-keyring package installed.
Starting with the next mirror update this evening and for the next three
weeks the archive will be digitally signed by both the old and the new
key. Starting with the 13th of June only the new key will be used.
For reference, the old key is
pub 1024D/6070D3A1 2006-11-20 [expires: 2009-07-01]
uid Debian Archive Automatic Signing Key (4.0/etch) <ftpmaster@debian.org>
and the new one
pub 4096R/55BE302B 2009-01-27 [expires: 2012-12-31]
uid Debian Archive Automatic Signing Key (5.0/lenny) <ftpmaster@debian.org>
This key rollover is a normal maintainance task and was started in
January. For security reasons Debian's archive signing keys regularily
expire after three years.
About Debian
The Debian project is an organisation of many developers who volunteer their
time and effort, collaborating via the Internet. Their tasks include
maintaining and updating Debian GNU/Linux which is a free distribution of the
GNU/Linux operating system. Debian's dedication to Free Software, its
non-profit nature, and its open development model makes it unique among
GNU/Linux distributions.
Contact Information
For further information, please send email to the Debian Press Team
<press@debian.org> or visit the Debian homepage at <http://www.debian.org/>.